WELCOME TO AMERICA, HARRY POTTER!

Chapter 1: A Really Bad Night

Author's Note: I've been wanting to try my hand at other fan fiction and this just came to me and I hurriedly wrote it down. I love both Harry Potter and Harry Dresden so I combined the two. This Dresden is from the TV show and not the book. I truly hated the fact that they dropped the show after only one season. They always seem to get rid of the good stuff and leave the crap behind. *sigh* Since I've never written for this fan fiction before, I'll keep it short until I get the hang of the characters more and maybe write another sometime soon. Hope you enjoy it. (This is during the Sorcerer's Stone)

"Harry we shouldn't be here!" Hermione said in aggravation.

"Hey, we just want a look around." Ron told her distractedly.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

The three friends had been hurrying back to their tower after the episode with the three headed dog. As they were frantically making their way back to their common room while trying to avoid being spotted by Filch and his cat, Harry apparently took a turn down another unfamiliar corridor that ended with a thick door. Hearing Filch getting closer, Harry shoved the heavy door open, grateful this time a door was unlocked.

"Come on, hide in here!" He hissed and they all tumbled in, shut the door, locking it, then leaned on it with their ears pressed against the wood.

After long, tense minutes of hard listening they sighed in relief when they heard Filch pause, try the door then grumble and leave again. It was Ron who turned and noticed the room they were in was stuffed high with junk. Old furniture, toys, odd looking artifacts, clothes and lots of small things were either stacked in huge, to the ceiling piles, or were scattered all over the floor.

"I heard about this place." Hermione said frowning and looking around. "I think it was called the Room of Lost Items or something like that."

"Good description!" Ron said. "Hey, look at this......" He held up an old sword, its brass pommel tarnished with age.

"Put that down, Ron. Honestly, we don't know if there could be old magical items that could hurt or kill us in here. We really shouldn't touch anything." Hermione said in warning, though the room fascinated her as well.

"Aw, come on, 'mione. We won't touch anything that might look like trouble." Ron tried to reassure her as he tossed the sword down and continued on into the room.

"That's the problem! You wouldn't know if it was dangerous if it jumped out and bite you." She snapped. "Besides, we have to get to our rooms before we're discovered missing."

"Hey! Come look at this!" Harry shouted from somewhere behind a stack of furniture.

Ron hurried to where his best friend's voice was coming fro, ignoring Hermione who followed in frustration and concern.

As Hermione came around the pile, she beheld what Harry had found. She frowned. It looked like nothing more than a painting until you kept looking at it. She gasped in shock as the image of a forest scene changed to a city as they watched.

"Isn't it amazing?" Harry asked in awe.

"Wow! Look now it's a scene from a zoo!" Ron said in excitement.

As they watched many different scenes passed by; street scenes during various times of the year in places they had never seen before, mountains, lakes, strange offices in the muggle world, etc. Suddenly, the painting seemed to stop at a rather ordinary scene.

As they studied it, they could see it was someone's place of business or home. It was a little hard to tell which. The image showed them a set of double doors that looked out on a busy street, the sun was shining in. The room itself was furnished with a couch, easy chair, bookcases, desk and chair, a coat tree, some plants and various strange odds and ends.

"I wonder where that is?" Harry said more to himself than anyone else.

"I'm sure I don't know and I don't care. It's obviously some kind of magical window to other places and we shouldn't be messing with it. Come on, we need to leave here!" Hermione said anxiously.

"Oh come on, Hermione! It's just a painting that someone has set a spell on to show multiple scenes." Ron said, scoffing at her. He was bored with it already and beginning to move off to check out more of the room.

Harry seemed drawn to the painting and was leaning rather close. He reached out a finger to see what it was made of. Unfortunately, once his hand came in contact with the surface, there was a bright light and the boy was suddenly sucked into the painting.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed in shock.

Ron had already moved around the furniture pile and was out of sight. He came tearing back around the corner at her scream.

He looked around frantically but didn't see his friend, Harry, anywhere.

"Hermione, where's Harry?" He asked.

"The painting......" She said, shaking in fright, as she pointed at it. "Harry touched it and he was sucked into it."

"But I don't see him! If he was sucked in, wouldn't you see him there?" Ron asked, fear for his friend making his heart beat faster as he searched the image but saw no one in it.

"I don't know! I said we shouldn't touch anything." Hermione moaned.

"There's nothing we can do but follow him!" Ron said decisively.

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. "Are you crazy? You don't know if you'll end up where Harry is at all." She shouted.

"That's just the chance I'll have to take. We can't just leave Harry there and we don't know if waiting to get help will allow him to move away from wherever he is. You know how magic can be......you have to jump at it immediately or too much will change with time." Ron said tightly, preparing himself to follow his friend.

"Fine! If you go so will I." Hermione said firmly, even though she was shaking in fear.

"No way! You stay here! If we don't come back, someone has to tell them where we've gone." Ron said angrily.

"That maybe true, but I'm going with you anyway. I have much more knowledge of most things muggle and magical than either of you and should be able to get us out of trouble quicker." Hermione told him stubbornly.

Ron sighed in disgust. Winning a battle of wits against Hermione was a lost cause. He gave in and moved closer to the painting. Hermione nervously grasped his hand then he reached out with his other hand to touch the painting.

Instantly they were swept off their feet and whisked away. It sorta felt like port keying except for the nasty pulling sensation near ones navel was missing.

Chicago.....nearly dawn.......

This has not been a good night and with dawn approaching, it didn't look like it was going to get any better.

I grunted when I hit the floor for what seemed like the fifth time. My opponent looked as fresh as if we had just started this tussle a few minutes ago rather than thirty minutes ago.

I prepared to fire what little magical energy I had left in my body, in a vain hope to shove the troll out of my home. Pointing my modified hockey stick at weird, bad, and ugly as he....it....or whatever.....prepared to throw my desk chair at me.

"Forzare!" I shouted. A gout of flames bathed the thing but to my disappointment it had no effect. Now what do I do? I've tried nearly every spell for defense, that didn't require more elaborate conjuring, without results and my home and office were showing the sign of the thing's strength.

While my mind frantically searched for a solution while hunting for enough cover to keep me alive, I couldn't help remembering how my evening got started.

I'd received a call from my good friend Murphy around eight o'clock.

"Hi, Murph....what's shaking?" I asked innocently.

"What do you know of a squat, ugly looking creature that resembles a human toad terrorizing the night walkers downtown?" She asked with barely restrained anger and annoyance.

"A what?" I asked in confusion. It didn't sound like anything I'd heard of before.

"Harry! I'm serious. This thing has been seen by at least ten people and not all of them were street walkers. Now do you know something or not?" She demanded.

"Uh......gee Murphy.....I don't recall encountering anything like that before. Sure it isn't a nutcase in a weird suit?" I asked, puzzled.

A sigh of frustration came through the line. "I truly don't know Harry. No one has been able to get close enough to find out. The reports are just plain weird........they describe this thing being able to move faster than a human and very agile. I really don't know how much of that is truth or just exaggerated descriptions by frightened people. Can you look into this for me? We've already got cops searching for it with no luck so far. I just want you to see if you spot it and can tell me if its something paranormal or human." She said.

"Well, sure, Murphy. I can check my contacts tomorrow and ........." I started to say before she cut me off.

"No can do! Has to be tonight. The Chief is all over me on this. You're on stipend as usual but you need to get your butt down to Fourth and Lexington now." She said bluntly.

I sighed. Well there went my peaceful evening. "Okay, gotcha. Let you know what I find out."

"Good!" She said then hung up.

I stared at the phone for a second then put it back on its cradle. Not knowing what I was looking for, I decided to be prepared for anything. I tucked my drumstick which is really my wand into one of the pockets of my ward-protective duster, checked my amulet on my wrist to ensure I had enough energy, then grabbed my trusty staff, disguised as a hockey stick and went out into the night.

I searched the area Murphy told me was the thing's last sighting and began the tedious business of interviewing the night walkers.......drunks, beggars, street walkers and cops. A drunk and a street walker told me about the stranger.

None had a very good description of the person, only that it was short in stature, made strange grunting noises and moved fast on its feet. Both people said it made them uneasy and fearful even though they couldn't make out its features very well. It was wearing a too long duster and had a floppy hat on its head that hid its face.

Sighing, I checked out alleyways, backs of clubs, dumpster areas, parking lots.........nothing jumped out at me from the dark.

Finally, I gave it up for the night. It was well after midnight and closing on dawn and I wasn't finding anything much less some creepy guy. I climbed into my jeep and headed home.

It was when I was just unlocking my door to my office/home when I felt the distinct hair-raising sensation of something from Nevernever.

Oh Joy! That's all I needed to finish my night. I whirled around, my staff up in a defensive stance when something short and fast charged into me sending us both through my front door and hitting the floor.

I kicked the thing away from me, knocking its hat off.

Oh Yuck! A troll! How the heck did this thing manage to get out of Nevernever? Well, however it came to be here, this was obviously what everyone had been seeing all night. And the reason it was here was it had sensed my magical signature and followed me. They don't have a fondness for humans but they hate wizards.

My mind snapped back to the present as the troll lifted me off my feet and slammed me against a wall. I knew I was done for and prepared to go out fighting when there was a loud shout and something was thrown at ugly's head causing it to turn and look at someone behind him.

The troll roared, slammed me against the wall again, knocking the wind out of me, then let me go. I slid to the floor, stunned for a moment. Shaking my head, I looked up and saw the most amazing thing.

A kid was standing near my desk, holding a wand. He was scared, I could see that, and, unfortunately, so could the troll. It reached out to grab him but suddenly.........

"Wingardium Leviosa." Shouted a distinctly female voice.

The troll roared angrily but could do nothing as it was now floating in the air totally helpless.

I scrambled to my feet and stared. Standing next to the dark haired kid was now a female with bushy hair and a red headed husky built male.

"Wow! Way to go Hermione!" Said the red headed kid.

The female gave a shaky smile as she continued to hold her wand and keep the troll suspended.

"Yes, well.....now what do we do with it?" She asked tensely.

"Uh......" Red head blinked and shrugged.

"Well, perhaps I can find a way to banish it." I said. The kids started and looked at me nervously.

"Who are you?" The black haired kid asked carefully.

"You know, I think its you who should be telling me who you are. After all, this is my place and though I'm grateful for your help, I'm a bit leery of people who just appear out of no where and know magic." I said archly.

The boy had the sense to blush and lower his wand, putting it away in what I now noticed were some kind of robes. The other two kids were wearing them as well.

"Uhm, sorry. We didn't mean to bust into your home. I'm Harry Potter, these are my friends, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley." He said politely.

"Nice to meet you. How about we get rid of ugly here before we talk.....okay?" I said. "I'll need some assistance so.....Hermione....is it?......yeah.....can you keep him there for a few minutes more?" I asked the girl.

"I'm not really sure, sir. I've only just learned to do this but I'll try." She said bravely.

Only just learned????? Holy crap! I quickly raced to my workshop and shouted for Bob.

"Bob! Wake up!"

A skull on a shelf in my workshop lay as if inert but suddenly the eye holes gleamed with an eerie yellow light. Seconds later, a ghost appeared before me.

"Really, Harry. Must you shout! I was enjoying a little trip down memory lane with a witch I once knew." He said huffily.

"I don't care what you were doing. I've got major problems .....namely a troll and three teens who can do magic." I explained quickly then turned and went back into my office area.

Bob came through the wall and to my amazement, the kids didn't bat an eye at seeing him.

"What on earth?" Bob exclaimed as he took in the floating troll.

"Yeah, can you tell me how we get rid of it?" I asked. "The young lady here may not be able to hold it up much longer." I added, glancing at her and noting sweat beginning to drip down her face. Not good!

"Oh yes.....well.....that's not going to be easy. The best way would be to take it to a portal for the Nevernever." He said.

"Oh yeah, great idea, except I have no intention of getting that close to one. You know there's a hunt for me by them." I growled. I wasn't about to go into why that was in front of strangers.

"Ahem....yes....I quite understand.....well that just leaves a banishment spell and you know that's not as effective for things like this." Bob said flatly.

"Not like we have a choice." I grumbled. I quickly went and got what I needed to perform the spell, set it up under the watchful and interested gaze of the two males, then readied myself. Taking a deep breath, I spoke the words of banishment and pointed my own wand at the troll.

At first nothing seemed to happen then there was a bright flash. When we could see again, our problem had vanished, hopefully back where it came from.

My shoulders slumped and I sighed with relief. I looked at the kids. The girl looked relieved as well and had put her wand away.

"Okay, so......care to explain why and how you came to be here?" I asked them.